The Senate spent much of a slow week confirming the administrator for the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, reports have circulated that a deal has been struck to agree on funding for the Flint water crisis, enabling the comprehensive energy package to hopefully get back on track. The House passed a couple of bills updating sport hunting, fishing and recreational shooting policies.

The Senate is set to consider a bipartisan bill that would provide emergency funding to address opioid abuse, one of the few bipartisan issues that could see action this year. The bipartisan energy bill remains stalled in the Senate after Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) placed a hold on the measure.

In the House, leaders will seek a short-term funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, instead of taking up a controversial FAA reauthorization measure spearheaded by Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). FAA funding expires on March 31.
Historically, the House should be moving on taking up their budget, but GOP leadership's goal to pass a budget this year is facing resistance from some Republican lawmakers because the blueprint includes the increased spending levels agreed to in last year's budget deal.

All eyes will be on the South this week, as two candidates look to wrap up their party's nomination for president. Some have argued that if the other candidates dropped out and only one was battling frontrunner Donald Trump that the sole challenger would win. That may or may not be true, but it is really a moot point because none of the other candidates have an incentive to drop out of the race.

Ben Carson believes the Ted Cruz campaign deliberately misled voters in Iowa about the future of his campaign and it cost him votes, and since most of his supporters, almost universally evangelical, would likely support Cruz if Carson left the race, he may want to exact revenge for Iowa by continuing to drain voters from Cruz.

John Kasich on the other hand is drawing largely moderate voters who would likely otherwise vote for Marco Rubio. Ohio, where the Governor remains very popular, is a "winner take all" state that votes two weeks after Super Tuesday. If there is a contested convention, Kasich wants the leverage that would accrue if he has all the delegates from Ohio plus the smattering he wins in other states along the way.

Rubio and Cruz have finished neck and neck, separated by less than four points in every contest to date. With the aggressive attacks between the two, there is little chance one would suddenly say, "You know what, YOU take it from here, I'll step aside." With Trump winning so broadly, in states as diverse as New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and that no attack or thought-to-be misstep hurting his support, it is difficult to see what would change the course of the race headed into Super Tuesday.

Two interesting scorecards to track the delegate count for each candidate and where they are in the process has been developed by two-time ASA Legislative Fly-in speaker, David Wasserman. Both can be viewed here: Democratic and Republican.

ASA Trivia Question:
Unfortunately we had no winners last week to the question asking: What is the only major office that requires a direct election to be seated, i.e. cannot be appointed. That office is House of Representatives. Presidents, Vice Presidents, Governors and Senators have all ascended to office without being elected, which cannot occur for the lower house. This week's question: There are FOUR state capitols named for American Presidents, name TWO. Click here to answer.

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